Portland Holidays at the Beach

Most people think holidays and they think fir tree, red and green, snow, holly, and wintertime. I think holidays and one of the things I think of are beach holidays, and I think Portland holidays would be great beach holidays. A lot of people think a beach holiday should be someplace in the tropics, but a pacific northwest beach, a Portland beach, would make a great vacation around the holidays. Who says you need traditional? Why not celebrate Portland holidays with sand instead of snow, seaweed instead of holly, rain and mist instead of snow, and blue ocean instead of red and green?
Instead of a traditional tree, you can go out and look at the native foliage of the region. They may even have some lights up on their trees as well, giving the nighttime a lovely gleam of Portland holidays. Go out to the shops and look at the displays, treat yourself to a day of pure window shopping. Don't buy a single thing, just enjoy the hustle and bustle of everyone else's busy Portland holidays, while you slowly savor your own. You'd be surprised how much cutting your spending from the traditional crazed rush can free your Portland holidays to become something truly special. There can even be something cleansing in taking a break from your typical tradition, getting outside the mad cycle of spending and running about like crazy to take stock of the holidays, all from within the safe haven of your own Portland holiday.
Yes, keep a nod to tradition, do the presents, put up some lights, hang some stockings if you wish, but then spend the afternoon in shirtsleeves on the beach, letting every gentle breeze and every whoosh of the tide remind you why the Portland holidays are awesome. Enjoy fresh seafood, enjoy the magnificent views, enjoy the misty rain or the sunshine or the clouds or whatever. Just enjoy. Don't over think it all so much.
If you have a family with you though, and even if you don't, don't let yourself get sucked into just vegging and not making an effort to something. Go to the beach. Every day. Or go hiking. Or read a book. Together. Write a novel, paint a picture, compose a sonnet or a song or yourself. Visit a museum, visit a gallery, visit a mountain, visit downtown. Don't try too hard to do all of this. But do something to make sure you are still alive. Think actively. Pray actively. Don't pray actively while thinking what a waste of time it is (well, hopefully your thoughts are engaged a little more productively than that). Be alive, but be alive by volition, not by being involuntarily sucked into the Portland holidays shopping craze.
Of course, your holidays do not have to be Portland holidays, or anywhere in particular holidays, for that to happen. You could do that overseas, over the next state line, over the next county line, over the next city line, or even in your own home (though sometimes you must be more motivated to make these kinds of changes in a familiar atmosphere where you are not accustomed to that kind of major change). So go to Portland, or wherever, and make the Portland holidays the holidays that you've always been dreaming of.